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Customer Satisfaction Survey

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Issued: Monday 10 January 2000

Press Release

Survey shows improvement in customer satisfaction with Local Government Ombudsman service
An independent survey indicates that people who complained to the Local Government Ombudsmen England in 1998 are more satisfied with the service they received than the complainants who were surveyed in 1995.
The survey was conducted by MORI in April-May 1999. MORI conducted 1,007 interviews by telephone with a random sample of people who had used the Ombudsman's service during 1998. In addition, they conducted 105 interviews with a booster sample of complainants from ethnic minorities in order to provide a robust sample for analysis.
MORI's previous survey was in May-June 1995, when they conducted 1,008 face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes, from a random sample of complainants who used the service in 1994. Given the difference in the methodology and the wording of some of the questions between the two surveys, direct comparisons between the two are difficult, but results from similar questions indicate an overall improvement.
In the 1999 survey, 61% were satisfied with the time it took the Ombudsman to deal with their complaint, 58% of customers felt they had been kept well informed of the progress of the investigation of their complaint, and 50% of customers said they were satisfied with the way their complaint was dealt with. Seventy per cent of customers found investigative staff helpful when talking to them on the telephone, and 66% found them efficient. These levels were all higher than those obtained in the 1995 for similar questions.
Other results showed that:
  • 89% of those telephoning the Ombudsmen's offices had no trouble getting through to the switchboard;
  • 83% were satisfied with the speed with which the telephone was usually answered;
  • 90% found the investigative staff to be polite on the telephone; and
  • 87% of respondents rated the ease of understanding of letters and reports from the Ombudsmen's offices positively.
Overall levels of satisfaction with the service are strongly influenced by the level of satisfaction with the outcome of the complaint. If complainants do not get the outcome they want, they tend to be dissatisfied with the rest of the service provided by the Local Government Ombudsman.
Commenting on the results of the survey, the Chairman of the Local Government Ombudsman service, Edward Osmotherly, said: "We want to learn from complainants about how we can improve our service. I am very glad that the improvements we have made since 1995 are working, but there is more for us to learn from this survey".
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